Manchester-founded company floated on the London Stock Exchange last year

The Beauty Tech Group has more than tripled its first-half profits as surging demand for at-home beauty devices drove sales up by over 40 per cent.

The owner of Currentbody Skin, ZIIP Beauty and Tria Laser posted pre-tax profits of £17.5m for the six months ending June, up from £5m the previous year. Revenues jumped 44.3 per cent to £79.7m, from £55.2m, while gross profit increased 52.8 per cent to £51.3m.

The Manchester-founded firm, which floated on the London Stock Exchange last October at a valuation of some £300m, has capitalised on rising consumer appetite for devices that bring treatments formerly confined to beauty salons into people’s homes.

Its most recognisable products include CurrentBody’s LED face masks, which employ varying wavelengths of light in treatments designed to enhance skin quality.

The Alderley Edge-based group said first-half trading had exceeded expectations and now anticipates full-year revenues of at least £170m, maintaining the upgraded guidance it issued in July, as reported by City AM.

It also lifted its expectations for underlying earnings, though the company stopped short of providing fresh statutory profit forecasts.

The business closed June with £52m in net cash after accounting for liabilities and zero debt, up from £40.8m at the end of 2025, and has separately unveiled plans to repurchase up to £20m of its own shares. No interim dividend will be distributed.

“At-home beauty technology is the fastest-growing part of the beauty market and we are uniquely positioned to take advantage of it through our three distinct brands: CurrentBody Skin, ZIIP Beauty and Tria Laser”, founder and chief executive Laurence Newman said.

“We have entered the second half, typically our strongest period of trading, with real momentum and a significant launch pipeline”.

The figures arrive less than a year after Beauty Tech Group made its London market debut, in one of comparatively few notable floats on the struggling exchange last year.

The business raised approximately £29m through the IPO, enabling it to eliminate external debt. Its inaugural annual results since listing, released in April, revealed turnover had climbed 39.4 per cent to £141m in 2025, while gross profit jumped 53.9 per cent to £88.3m.

Roughly 80 per cent of its sales were generated beyond the UK and Ireland last year, with the group trading across more than 90 markets.

Its swift expansion has been driven by Currentbody Skin, which has helped transform the somewhat disconcerting spectacle of an illuminated face mask from something akin to a science fiction prop into a staple of beauty regimes and social media platforms.

Currentbody introduced its first LED light therapy mask in 2018, when persuading customers to fasten a glowing contraption to their face demanded considerably more justification. “It was definitely a real challenge in the early days” Emily Buckwell, associate communications director at Currentbody, told City AM ahead of the results.

“The science on LED light therapy was already there, but consumer awareness wasn’t, so it was about finding the right balance between educating people and normalising the idea of actually wearing the mask”.

The firm has since developed a third generation of its LED range, set to launch in the second half of the year following two years of research and testing.

Beauty Tech Group is also investing in its own laboratory, due to open in early 2027, while research conducted alongside the University of Manchester is exploring how skin changes following the use of at-home LED devices.

ZIIP Beauty, meanwhile, has completed manufacturing adjustments ahead of a new product range rolling out in the second half of the year, as the group also moves to bring its European warehousing operations in-house.

The company remains confident there is substantial room for growth within the category. Beauty technology currently accounts for just one per cent of consumer beauty spending across its core markets, according to the group.

BlackRock BLK 1.97%increase; up pointing triangle will offer American workers a chance to invest more like a multibillion-dollar pension.  

The world’s largest investment firm by assets under management said it would work with corporate clients to build customizable funds for 401(k) plans that can include slices of public stocks and bonds, private assets and even annuities that provide guaranteed income in retirement.

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While Paramount has yet to announce its official departure from Hollywood, Los Angeles officials are on high alert after Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass and Attorney General Rob Bonta were told an exit announcement was imminent.

While TMZ reported that the statement was expected Tuesday, no announcement has been made. Meanwhile, Paramount Skydance officials have been spotted in Nashville scouting commercial properties as the studio considers moving some of its operations there, according to insiders with knowledge of the search in a new report.

The studio has already looked at more than 400,000 square feet of potential space in Music City, according to a report by Politico. Other possible relocation options on the table include Texas and Georgia.

Paramount declined to comment on the reports of a possible move when contacted by Fox News Digital.

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“We cannot comment on a company’s plans,” Bonta’s office told Fox News Digital. “It’s no secret that Paramount has been making this threat despite its alleged commitment to California and Hollywood. What Paramount decides to do is Paramount’s choice alone. We’ll continue to apply the law without fear or favor and continue to be open to coming to the table for good faith discussions.”

Bonta told MS NOW Thursday that LA officials are still willing to come to the table and negotiate.

“We’ve heard this threat before, and it’s inconsistent with other things that they have said,” he said. “If they decide to leave, that’s their independent choice. I’m not asking for it. I don’t want it, obviously, and that responsibility will lay at their feet.”

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Bonta was also asked about the possible move Thursday at The Atlantic Festival in New York.

“We will do our job,” he said. “We have a job to enforce the law without fear and without favor, and, at the same time, we are always open to come to the table if it is in good faith and it is sincere. And we will always explore an opportunity to get the results that we want with our evaluation of the case at the table.”

CNN STAFFERS BRACE FOR PARAMOUNT CEO’S POTENTIAL PLAN TO LAUNCH EDITORIAL BOARD TO OVERSEE NETWORK

In July, Bonta, and 11 other state attorneys general, filed an antitrust lawsuit against Paramount in an attempt to block the proposed Warner Bros. Discovery acquisition. They claimed the merger would eliminate competition in film distribution and basic cable while negatively affecting industry workers and consumers.

For his part, Paramount CEO David Ellison then threatened to move the iconic studio out of the Golden State if Bonta did not back off and a settlement was not reached by Oct. 1.

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Now, it appears increasingly unlikely that a deal can be reached.

Fox News Digital’s Brian Flood and Joseph Wulfsohn contributed to this report.

India’s stock market weakness is masking one of the country’s strongest pockets of AI exposure. While the Nifty has declined 12% in 2026, a Goldman Sachs-screened basket of 42 Indian “AI Enablers” has surged about 60%, making it the best performing segment of the market by a wide margin.

The divergence challenges the dominant view that India has little to gain from the global artificial intelligence boom. The country has increasingly become the default “anti-AI” trade among major markets because its benchmark indexes have limited exposure to AI-related companies. But beneath the headline index performance, a cluster of companies tied to power, data centres and semiconductors is benefiting from the infrastructure build out required to support AI.

Goldman Sachs screened about 1,800 companies listed on Indian exchanges, representing a combined market value of around $5 trillion. After applying filters based on market size, liquidity, revenue growth, capex, research and development intensity, and management commentary on AI infrastructure, the investment bank identified 42 companies with a combined listed market value of $670 billion.

The companies were selected based on visible revenue generation, order book pipelines, capital commitments and partnerships across the AI-related supply chain. The basket includes businesses involved in power generation, power transmission, power equipment, data centre development and operations, data centre hardware, semiconductor assembly and testing, semiconductor materials and semiconductor hardware.

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42 Indian AI Enablers stocks
The list includes Adani Green Energy, Tata Power, NTPC Green Energy, ACME Solar, Clean Max Enviro Energy, Power Grid, Adani Energy Solutions, KEC International, ABB India, Cummins India, Siemens, Hitachi Energy India, GE Vernova T&D India, APAR Industries, Kirloskar Oil Engines, Schneider Electric Infrastructure, TD Power Systems, MTAR Technologies, Diamond Power Infrastructure, Waaree Renewable Technologies, Gujarat Fluorochemicals, Navin Fluorine, Himadri Speciality Chemical, Netweb Technologies, CG Power, Waaree Energies, Sansera Engineering, Kaynes Technology, Paras Defence, Polycab India, KEI Industries, Sterlite Technologies, HFCL, Blue Star, Craftsman Automation, Syrma SGS Technology, Reliance Industries, Bharti Airtel, Larsen & Toubro, Adani Enterprises, Anant Raj and Brigade Enterprises. The basket has rallied about 60% in 2026.The rally has been broad-based. All three major layers of power, data centres and semiconductors have gained between 40% and 80% in 2026, according to Goldman Sachs. Six of the nine sub-layers have risen more than 20%, while all nine have outperformed the MSCI India Index.

The next best performing pocket of the Indian market, healthcare, has gained only about 10% this year. The AI-enabler basket has also outperformed the Nifty Midcap and Smallcap indexes, suggesting that its gains cannot be explained only by a broader rally in smaller companies.

The composition of the basket highlights how much of India’s AI exposure sits outside traditional benchmark heavyweights. Of the 42 companies, 8 are microcaps, 13 are smallcaps, 9 are midcaps and only 12 are largecaps. Capital goods account for half the basket, with 21 companies, while utilities and technology hardware are the other major areas of exposure.

Data centre operators account for the largest share of the basket’s total market value, at about $400 billion. They are followed by power equipment companies at $100 billion, power generation at $50 billion and power transmission at $45 billion.

Goldman Sachs said the rally has been driven primarily by earnings rather than speculative multiple expansion. Since 2025, the AI-enabler basket has returned 53%, with earnings growth contributing 65 percentage points while valuation compression reduced returns by 12 percentage points.

That earnings momentum is expected to continue. Consensus estimates cited by Goldman Sachs indicate that earnings for the AI-enabler basket could grow 53% in 2026, 39% in 2027 and 29% in 2028. This compares with expected 2027 earnings growth of 16% for MSCI India and 23% for the MSCI India Small and Midcap Index.

Power generation, data centre hardware and power equipment are expected to lead the next phase, with earnings growth of about 40% to 60%. Collectively, the AI-enabler group could contribute around two percentage points to Nifty 500 profit growth in 2027 and 2028, the report said.

The earnings outlook is being supported by a strong investment cycle. Nifty 500 capex growth is expected to more than double to 16% in 2026 from 7% in 2025, with AI enablers contributing about six percentage points to that increase. Goldman Sachs expects the companies to remain free cash flow positive despite higher capital spending.

The AI theme is also appearing more frequently in corporate disclosures. Goldman Sachs found that references to AI in management commentary have risen sharply over the past two years, not only among technology companies but also across other sectors. Earnings calls increasingly include terms such as data centres, power purchase agreements, fibre infrastructure, transformers, switchgear, uptime, substations, GPUs, OSAT and data lakes.

That shift in corporate language is providing an early indicator of investment and capacity expansion, even though hard disclosures on AI-related revenue and spending remain limited.

The opportunity, however, comes with a valuation caveat. The AI-enabler basket trades at about 36 times forward earnings, an 85% premium to the MSCI India Index and near the upper end of its five-year historical range. On an absolute basis, Goldman Sachs said the multiples appear elevated.

But the premium narrows when valuations are adjusted for earnings growth. The basket’s PEG ratio, the price-to-earnings multiple relative to expected growth, is 1.3 times, slightly below MSCI India’s 1.4 times. That suggests the premium may reflect stronger expected earnings rather than excessive valuation alone.

There is also a significant divergence within the group. While some sub-layers trade at demanding valuations, others remain closer to their historical averages. Goldman Sachs cautioned that the screen can include false positives because of its top-down methodology, while its liquidity and market cap filters may also exclude some potential beneficiaries.

(Disclaimer: This article has been written by Nikhil Agarwal, who is not a SEBI-registered Research Analyst or an Investment Adviser. Nikhil Agarwal and his/her ‘relative(s)’ (as defined under Section 2(77) of the Companies Act, 2013) do not hold any financial interest in the companies mentioned in this article as of the date of publication. The views/recommendations mentioned in this article, wherever applicable, are those of the respective SEBI-registered Research Analyst/brokerage and have been reproduced/reported with due attribution. They should not be construed as the views or recommendations of The Economic Times Digital or the journalist. Readers are advised to consider the original research report and make their investment decisions based on their own assessment. Brokerage disclaimershere)

Sebi Chairman Tuhin Kanta Pandey on Thursday said regulatory measures in the equity derivatives market have helped reduce aggregate F&O losses, but individual traders continue to incur losses even after staying in the segment for several years.

A latest Sebi study showed that losses in futures and options have declined from Rs 1.12 lakh crore to around Rs 90,000 crore after the regulator’s interventions. However, Pandey said many traders continue to lose money even after three to four years of participation, making it important for investors to assess whether derivatives trading is suitable for them.

The market regulator will continue to monitor derivatives trading, he said.

The comments come against the backdrop of Sebi’s latest study on individual traders in the equity derivatives segment for FY26. The study, released in August, showed that individual traders’ aggregate net losses fell to about Rs 91,685 crore in FY26 from about Rs 1.12 lakh crore in FY25. However, 88% of individual traders still incurred losses during the year.

Participation had cooled after Sebi tightened derivatives rules. Individual traders in equity derivatives fell about 20% in FY26. The pace of exits also increased, with 46 lakh traders who had participated in FY25 not returning in FY26. This compared with 26 lakh exits in the previous year.

Retail losses remain high
Sebi findings suggest that while overall losses have reduced, the odds remain poor for individual traders. Nearly nine out of ten individual traders continued to lose money in FY26. The reduction in aggregate losses was partly because fewer traders participated in the segment after the regulator introduced measures to cool excessive speculation.
Sebi had earlier introduced steps such as higher contract sizes for index derivatives, fewer weekly index expiries and upfront collection of option premiums. These measures were aimed at reducing speculative retail activity and improving investor protection.
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The study also showed a sharp divide between individual traders and larger market participants.

Proprietary traders recorded the highest gross trading profit at about Rs 44,000 crore in FY26, followed by foreign portfolio investors at about Rs 14,000 crore. Sebi said 99% of profits made by foreign portfolio investors and proprietary traders came from algorithmic trading entities.

This reinforces the concern that individual traders are competing in a market where larger, faster and better-capitalised participants have a structural advantage.

Disclaimer: The views/recommendations mentioned in this article, wherever applicable, are those of the respective SEBI-registered Research Analyst/brokerage and have been reproduced/reported with due attribution. They should not be construed as the views or recommendations of The Economic Times Digital or the journalist. Readers are advised to consider the original research report and make their investment decisions based on their own assessment. Brokerage disclaimers here